Winchester and Potomac Railroad
The Winchester and Potomac Railroad (W&P) was a
The W&P Railroad was acquired by the B&O in 1902, and subsequently became part of CSX Transportation.
Founding and early history
Most railroads built in Virginia before the
The B&O reached Harpers Ferry in 1834 (via ferry from Sandy Hook, Maryland).[3]: 195–6 A final rail connection with the B&O was completed in January 1837 when the Winchester and Potomac was connected by the first B&O Railroad Bridge completed across the Potomac River, tying the lines together in a junction on the Virginia side of the river.[5] This was also the first ever intersection of two railroads in the United States.
The W&P was a
Station | Distance | |
---|---|---|
mi | km | |
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia | 0 mi | 0 km |
Halltown, West Virginia | 6 mi | 9.7 km |
Charlestown, West Virginia
|
10.5 mi | 16.9 km |
Cameron's/Aldridge, West Virginia | 14 mi | 23 km |
Summit Point, West Virginia | 18 mi | 29 km |
Wadesville, Virginia | 21 mi | 34 km |
Stephenson, Virginia | 26 mi | 42 km |
Winchester, Virginia | 31.5 mi | 50.7 km |
This connection to the B&O caused much concern politically, since this potentially enabled all farming and industrial produce in the
John Brown's raid
The W&P was threatened during the events following
Executive Department,
Richmond, 28th Nov., 1859.
J. W. Garrett, Esq.,
President, &c.
From information in possession of the Governor, of a contemplated attempt to rescue the prisoners condemned to death at Charlestown, he has deemed it proper to issue a proclamation taking possession of the Winchester & Potomac Railroad, on the first, second and third days of December next, and it will be held under impressment, with a guard, for the use and occupation of Virginia troops alone, and no transportation will be permitted other than for them. Under these circumstances, he requests me to suggest to you, as President of the Balt. & Ohio Railroad Company, the propriety of stopping all trains on your road on the first and second of December, other than for carrying the United States mail. Passengers coming through Virginia on those days will not be permitted to pass. Major General Taliaferro, in command at Charlestown, has orders to this effect.
GEO. W. MUMFORD,
Secretary of the Commonwealth
Civil War
By the start of the Civil War in 1861, W&P owned six
1861
The W&P was of potential value to the Confederates for any need to attack Harpers Ferry
The W&P was a key asset used during the
Throughout the summer and fall of 1861, Capt. Thomas Sharp was busy supervising the removal of trains, equipment, rails and ties from the B&O, the "South's one unfailing source of supply."[12] After the big summer campaigns of 1861 were mostly finished, Stonewall Jackson returned to Winchester and continued in his devotion of energy to "uprooting track west of Martinsburg" and were "able to deliver 3,000 tons of Baltimore & Ohio rails to the Winchester & Potomac Railroad in December, 1861."[13]
1862
In the opening months and winter of 1862 most of the Baltimore & Ohio rolling stock and rail ties that had been captured and stored in Winchester, with the help of W&P railroaders, were evacuated and used in various other Confederate railroads, such as the Centreville Military Railroad. The W&P at that point, however, had very little transportation value for either Confederate or Union forces for the rest of the war, and was not used by the Confederacy anymore after the spring of 1862,[14] when it was seized by Union forces under Major General Nathaniel P. Banks.[15]
Both the western portion of the Manassas Gap Railroad and the W&P Railroad were effectively under the control of Banks in the spring, and were going to be used as part of a plan developed by Major General George B. McClellan to support Union operations in that area. McClellan's plan was to connect the Manassas Gap Railroad and the W&P with a line between Winchester and Strasburg, creating a "complete circle of rails" from the Union capital at Washington, D.C. to the Shenandoah Valley by either the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad or the Orange and Alexandria Railroad.[16]
Sometime in 1862, likely when McClellan occupied and controlled the W&P, its locomotives Ancient and President were captured, and later sold after the war. The Ancient was sold to J. Neilson in 1865, and the President was sold to the
Late in May, as Stonewall Jackson was busy routing the Fifth Corps under Banks, the B&O was shipping troops forward to Banks. "A troop train, in fact, arrived at Winchester (on the W&P) just as Banks began his retreat. Three companies got off and the remainder of the regiment rode back to Harpers Ferry."[17] As Banks retreated from Winchester, the Confederates occupied the northern Shenandoah Valley, burned the W&P's principal bridges, and tore up all the track. After Jackson evacuated the area in early June, the Union Army began repairing the W&P, but heavy rains washed the bridges out, and the W&P was not restored to service until June 20, 1862.[18]
On June 22, 1862 a train carrying soldiers from New York and the 3rd Delaware Volunteer Infantry over turned between Wadesville and Summit Point, WV. One New Yorker, John P. Kopk was killed and fifty two were injured. Most of the injured were from the 3rd Delaware. https://www.nytimes.com/1862/06/23/news/winchester-serious-railroad-accident-train-off-track-number-soldiers-killed.html
In August 1862, as Major General
Also in August, Confederate lieutenants George Baylor and Milton Rousss of Company B,
Following the
1863
During the first half of 1863,
1864
In March and April 1864 Union forces, observed by Colonel
After Major General Philip Sheridan pursued Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early south in the Shenandoah Valley, clearing the north end of Confederate forces, the Union Army set about, once again, and for the last time, repairing the W&P, reconstructing 26 miles (42 km) of roadway to serve Sheridan.[23]
1865
The W&P remained in Union Army control through the first half of 1865, and was the next to last of the Virginia railroads to be turned over to the Virginia Board of Public Works, sometime after June 30.[23]
Post bellum
Following the war, in 1866, control of the railroad was returned to the company and stock holders, who decided to lease the right–of-way to the B&O Railroad. In 1870 the new
In 1896 the
20th century
In 1902 the W&P Railroad was acquired by B&O Railroad, marking 71 years of total existence for the W&P. The line finally came under control of
Notes
- ^ Black, p. xxiii
- ^ a b Johnston, p.23
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8047-2629-0.
- newspapers.com.
- ^ Reynolds, p.18
- ^ a b Johnston, p.5
- ^ Tucker, p.33
- ^ Johnston, p. 257
- ^ a b Johnston, p.24
- ^ a b Shriver
- ^ Hungerford, Vol II, p.7
- ^ Johnston, p.36
- ^ Johnston, p.36 citing Official Records, II, pp.981,987
- ^ Johnston, p.43
- ^ Black, p.86
- ^ Johnston, p. 50; "McClellan's idea was expressed in a letter to Secretary of War Stanton on March 28, 1862."
- ^ Johnston, p.270
- ^ Johnston, p.54
- ^ Johnston, pp.277-278
- ^ a b Johnston, p. 282
- ^ Johnston, pp. 104-105
- ^ Johnston, p.291
- ^ a b Johnston, p.253
- ^ Johnston, p.269
References
- Black, Robert C. The Railroads of the Confederacy. The University of North Carolina Press, originally 1952.
- Johnston II, Angus James, Virginia Railroads in the Civil War, University of North Carolina Press for the Virginia Historical Society, 1961.
- Reynolds, Kirk; Oroszi, Dave (2000). Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Osceola, WI: MBI. OCLC 42764520.
- Shriver, Ernest, Stealing Railroad Engines, from Tales from McClure's War: Being True Stories of Camp and Battlefield, New York, Doubleday & McClure Co., 1898.
- Tucker, Spencer C., Brigadier General John D. Imboden: Confederate Commander in the Shenandoah, University Press of Kentucky, 2002, ISBN 0-8131-2266-X